Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Dec 22: Even as protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed NRC intensify across the nation, with close to 20 deaths being reported, the BJP seems to be already putting together a plan in action to screen illegal immigrants.

Despite protests and intense opposition, both the national BJP and Karnataka BJP leaders have insisted that there was no question of backtracking on the Act. In a damage control exercise, an unsigned clarification on CAA and NRC was issued, purportedly from the home ministry. However, it has done little to pacify opposition.

In Karnataka, both chief minister B S Yediyurappa and home minister Basavaraj Bommai have time and again said that the state will soon implement both CAA and NRC, and as per reports, the implementation may well be under way.

According to a report by Deccan Herald, Karnataka may even be the first state in India to implement CAA and NRC, with the "work on implementation rumoured to start as early as January 2020."

The issue of infiltration and illegal immigrants from Bangladesh settling in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka has always been debated in the capital city, and several state agencies collecting date of illegal migrants. The report states that even though the issue is prevalent nationwide, Karnataka has been especially proactive in identifying and flagging the problem.

In fact, it is gathered that Karnataka has even completed one round of identification of illegal migrants in the southern districts of the state.

Quoting law and parliamentary minister J C Madhuswamy, the report states that as per the intelligence report, the entire process will affect only about 30,000 people, and not everyone.

Bengaluru has about 13,000 'illegal immigrants' from Bangladesh, said to be one of the largest congregation in India, and most of them Muslims.

Home minister Bommai had last month acknowledged that the state has been collecting information about illegal migrants along with their 'criminal activities'. Once the report is ready, it would be sent to the union home ministry for further action.

It has also been reported in the past that the government is already building detention centres near Nelamangala to accomodate illegal migrants. However, the state officials have insisted that the centres were only for the detention of foreigners overstaying and not for those singled out during NRC.